Google, Yahoo Call For Expanded Online Drug Ads

MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Google, Yahoo and other Web companies joined the pharmaceutical industry Thursday in urging federal regulators to make it easier to pitch drugs in online advertisements.

The Food and Drug Administration is hearing from dozens of drug and advertising executives at a two-day meeting on Internet marketing of medical products.

The agency has agreed to consider developing rules for online ads after companies complained that the guidelines for traditional media — which require detailed lists of side effects — have left them hamstrung on the Web.

As drug maker and media companies push for increased online access, consumer advocates say the FDA must respond with increased enforcement, and that industry should pay for the effort.

Drug makers spent more than $4.3 billion on patient-targeted advertisements last year, though online marketing represented about 3 percent of that amount. The industry's limited online marketing presence represents a lost opportunity for search engines like Google and Yahoo, given strong demand for online medical information.

Yahoo Vice President David Zinman is urging the FDA to draft new rules that give companies greater flexibility on the Web.